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"Working from home" moan 09:49 - Jun 18 with 3115 viewsLibero

It should go without saying that I am of course incredibly grateful to be in safe employment currently but I'm really bloody fed up of working at home.

I've worked roles previously where I've had the option for home working and I've always enjoyed it, taking advantage to either crack down on a piece of work or take my foot off the pedal a bit when needed.

However this feels like something completely foreign to previous experiences.
I just can't shake the feeling that I haven't worked hard enough/done enough - this is despite my line manager repeatedly stating she's very happy with my contribution.

I'm lucky in that I get to go to the office twice a week but the days I'm working from home are as much a mental challenge as they are a professional one currently.
Mrs. Libero is working from home also 3 days a week, two of those cross over with when I'm working from home, this obviously presents challenges as our childcare is currently shielding.

Such a blurring of personal and professional time at the moment, it's not good for someone like me who requires a clear cut off in order to allow myself to relax.

I'm just interested to hear other's experiences of working from home currently, I'm sure many people are experiencing issues that are in some way similar.
[Post edited 18 Jun 2020 9:50]
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"Working from home" moan on 09:53 - Jun 18 with 2425 viewsfactual_blue

Try going out for a walk before you start working and again after you start working, imitating a commute.

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"Working from home" moan on 09:54 - Jun 18 with 2412 viewsBluefish

I already worked from home but I mixed it up with visiting customers and the office (7 hour round trip). It just isn't the same now with my 3 kids and wife at home and not having the week broken up with long trips out.

I tend to be able to waste hours at a time and realise I've not achieved anything but at other times I will crsck on and work late in the evening. My employer is fine with this and says it is part and parcel and working from home

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"Working from home" moan on 09:55 - Jun 18 with 2408 viewsLibero

"Working from home" moan on 09:53 - Jun 18 by factual_blue

Try going out for a walk before you start working and again after you start working, imitating a commute.


I saw someone mention this on here a week or so ago, thought it was a great suggestion and gave it a bash. It worked to a degree, only problem is that it isn't practical due to the difference in working hours between myself and the missus, she isn't happy when I swan out the door at 16:00 leaving her with baby while working for another hour :')
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"Working from home" moan on 09:57 - Jun 18 with 2384 viewsfactual_blue

"Working from home" moan on 09:55 - Jun 18 by Libero

I saw someone mention this on here a week or so ago, thought it was a great suggestion and gave it a bash. It worked to a degree, only problem is that it isn't practical due to the difference in working hours between myself and the missus, she isn't happy when I swan out the door at 16:00 leaving her with baby while working for another hour :')


I'm sure you can work out a timing issue between you.

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"Working from home" moan on 09:58 - Jun 18 with 2380 viewsLibero

"Working from home" moan on 09:54 - Jun 18 by Bluefish

I already worked from home but I mixed it up with visiting customers and the office (7 hour round trip). It just isn't the same now with my 3 kids and wife at home and not having the week broken up with long trips out.

I tend to be able to waste hours at a time and realise I've not achieved anything but at other times I will crsck on and work late in the evening. My employer is fine with this and says it is part and parcel and working from home


Aye, that resonates.

I just can't really be cracking on into the evenings unless it's on a specific project that has a clear finishing point as I find it so hard to relax.
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(No subject) on 09:59 - Jun 18 with 2376 viewsDecageBruce

I have worked from home for the last 10 years but, as you have said this is often interspersed with office/site visits and nights away from home.

It definitely feels different atm and I am spending a bit if time trying to reassure staff of mine that this is new to a lot of people or even those used to it are feeling different.

I would just say remember there are lots of people in the same boat and, if you can, find a buddy to talk to about it. Also, try and get a routine where you take a few breaks, sit and watch the news for 10 mins with a cuppa, call someone none work related for a chat and try and get a bit of fresh air, i.e. walk etc, to get those positive chemicals going.
[Post edited 18 Jun 2020 11:21]
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(No subject) on 10:08 - Jun 18 with 2351 viewsSteve_M

I think that division between work and home life is probably the hardest thing I've found about WFH, particularly in the early weeks when everyone was trying to adjust. That was probably the busiest period for me workwise too and it was very hard to avoid long days, albeit I always made a real effort for a good walk during the day.

It's got better for me, I think collectively everyone - maybe 20 of us across London and Singapore - realised they were doing too much and have cut back on the hours a bit which makes it easier to turn off. Now I try to finish at 5 and only do anything else if it's important, it helped doing a short walk - even a few hundred metres - just to mark that separation.

I think I'm just a bit jaded now, every week blurs into another and I've still seen very few people for a conversation in three months. I did go and see my parents last weekend which was nice but the prospect of seeing wider family or more than the odd friend still feels a way off.

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(No subject) on 10:16 - Jun 18 with 2323 viewsSwansea_Blue

"Working from home" moan on 09:53 - Jun 18 by factual_blue

Try going out for a walk before you start working and again after you start working, imitating a commute.


Not forgetting to regularly stand still for minutes on end to simulate the traffic jams
[Post edited 18 Jun 2020 10:17]

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(No subject) on 10:22 - Jun 18 with 2294 viewsBrianTablet

(No subject) on 10:16 - Jun 18 by Swansea_Blue

Not forgetting to regularly stand still for minutes on end to simulate the traffic jams
[Post edited 18 Jun 2020 10:17]


And swear at any cyclists you see.

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"Working from home" moan on 10:26 - Jun 18 with 2269 viewsMarshalls_Mullet

Ive effectively worked from home for the past 8 years due to a mix of field based roles and now being self employed.

I've never found it an issue, and enjoy the flexibility it gives me... and the lack of a commute.

However, the big change has been having the kids at home at the same time, and having my wife working from home too... that has proved to be difficult to manage.

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"Working from home" moan on 10:26 - Jun 18 with 2269 viewsPendejo

"Working from home" moan on 09:55 - Jun 18 by Libero

I saw someone mention this on here a week or so ago, thought it was a great suggestion and gave it a bash. It worked to a degree, only problem is that it isn't practical due to the difference in working hours between myself and the missus, she isn't happy when I swan out the door at 16:00 leaving her with baby while working for another hour :')


Take the child on your commute?

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"Working from home" moan on 10:28 - Jun 18 with 2253 viewsGuthrum

Not so much WFH, but as a self-employed sole trader it's very easy to get the work/life balance messed up. Working until midnight when the pressure's on and feeling guilty about taking time out when it's not. I don't have family reponsibilities, but do know blokes who've got into a real muddle over that.

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"Working from home" moan on 10:35 - Jun 18 with 2224 viewshoppy

"Working from home" moan on 09:53 - Jun 18 by factual_blue

Try going out for a walk before you start working and again after you start working, imitating a commute.


Typical civil servant approach... go for a walk before starting working, but then just going for another one after you start working... surely that's just work avoidance?

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"Working from home" moan on 10:47 - Jun 18 with 2194 viewstextbackup

I love working from home. was only ever last resort option before really (covering on OT if they were really stuck for cover)
Managers treat us as adults and trust we do as required, and honestly im more switched on and focused because I don't want to break that trust.

night shifts the only slight issue as when im cooking my grub at 0200 I've woken the kids up dropping pots and pans!

able to have the oldest (not bck at school yet) sat alongside me doing homeschooling

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"Working from home" moan on 10:48 - Jun 18 with 2186 viewsfactual_blue

"Working from home" moan on 10:35 - Jun 18 by hoppy

Typical civil servant approach... go for a walk before starting working, but then just going for another one after you start working... surely that's just work avoidance?


You have to spend most of the day walking to or from wherever the kettle is.

Def info.

How are you media types coping without massive eighteen course, booze-fuelled lunches on expenses?

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"Working from home" moan on 10:48 - Jun 18 with 2184 viewsvilanovablue

I think we need to understand that whilst we are "working" from home we are doing it during a pandemic so many other pressures apply. Home schooling not having the opportunity to do other stuff after work hours such as the pub, gym, cinema or going out for a meal really make it very different.
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"Working from home" moan on 10:48 - Jun 18 with 2185 viewsclive_baker

I hear you buh. I'm used to working from home a couple of times per week and have been doing so for a few years now, but every day takes its toll. On a professional level it's hard to build relationships with colleagues too, and I find it a bit harder to manage my team. I feel sorry for one girl who started recently, fresh out of 6th form and this is her first experience of work.

I'm trying to take the positives on a personal level. I'm managing to save dough on travel and lunches etc, I'm seeing more of the wife and daughter and having more free time for exercise. I imagine (I hope, really) we'll all look back on 2020 in a couple of years time when normality has hopefully returned and we're back to arguing about Skuse's latest contract extension, and perhaps we'll ask if we made the most of our simpler way of life, and perhaps in a strange way we might miss it.

Hang in there brother.

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"Working from home" moan on 10:54 - Jun 18 with 2158 viewsfactual_blue

"Working from home" moan on 10:26 - Jun 18 by Pendejo

Take the child on your commute?


Make the child do the work. You and the Mrs watch Netflix all day.

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(No subject) on 10:56 - Jun 18 with 2152 viewsfactual_blue

(No subject) on 10:16 - Jun 18 by Swansea_Blue

Not forgetting to regularly stand still for minutes on end to simulate the traffic jams
[Post edited 18 Jun 2020 10:17]


Or standing unreasonably close to random strangers, whilst reading Farmer's Weekly, to recreate a tube journey.

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"Working from home" moan on 10:59 - Jun 18 with 2139 viewsfooters

"Working from home" moan on 10:48 - Jun 18 by factual_blue

You have to spend most of the day walking to or from wherever the kettle is.

Def info.

How are you media types coping without massive eighteen course, booze-fuelled lunches on expenses?


Bearing up.

The caviar, blinis and champers are all tax deductible expenses and are processed through the usual Coutts account.

I'm paying for my own cigars now though, which just goes to show the harsh realities of lockdown Britain.

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"Working from home" moan on 11:20 - Jun 18 with 2098 viewsFixed_It

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"Working from home" moan on 11:26 - Jun 18 with 2066 viewsDecageBruce

"Working from home" moan on 10:48 - Jun 18 by clive_baker

I hear you buh. I'm used to working from home a couple of times per week and have been doing so for a few years now, but every day takes its toll. On a professional level it's hard to build relationships with colleagues too, and I find it a bit harder to manage my team. I feel sorry for one girl who started recently, fresh out of 6th form and this is her first experience of work.

I'm trying to take the positives on a personal level. I'm managing to save dough on travel and lunches etc, I'm seeing more of the wife and daughter and having more free time for exercise. I imagine (I hope, really) we'll all look back on 2020 in a couple of years time when normality has hopefully returned and we're back to arguing about Skuse's latest contract extension, and perhaps we'll ask if we made the most of our simpler way of life, and perhaps in a strange way we might miss it.

Hang in there brother.


One of the big positives I am trying to take from this is the time that I am able to have with my two young kids that many Dad's now and in previous generations were never able to.

Doesn't mean it's easy or they don't push me to the edge sometimes but I try and remember it is a complete change for them also
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"Working from home" moan on 11:50 - Jun 18 with 2015 viewsSaleAway

This is the first time I have consistently worked from home. I should preface this with the info that we have a house that allows me and MrsSA to work in different rooms, and no kids to deal with, so its a bit easier.

I try to keep to a working hours routine. Roughly 0730-1600. after work, I will go for a run, a bike ride, or maybe play tennis - the key is some activity that bookends the day. at that point, I shut the compute down, and put it away, so there's no temptation to go back and work out of hours.

In terms of working hard enough - i think the interesting part of all of this, is that its shifting how employers think about work - less about hours worked, as they can't track this, but about productivity, or at least in my (software) industry. From speaking to a number of other software workers and companies - apparently software teams in general have been more productive during lockdown than at work. It may be that some people are working longer hours, some are working shorter, but I think the only way to address this is keep yourself happy. YOU will know if your work output is similar to when you are in the office. If your manager is happy - you should be. Being able to manage yourself so that after a crack down, a period of recovery is taken is fine.

Those 2 days where you cross over - perhaps you can stretch your day out start earlier - and finish later, but have time allocated for the kids and share that burden with MrsL - work out with her and your kids who is doing what and when, and try and fix it a bit, if you need that sort of structure - probably depends a bit on how much childcare the kids need...

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"Working from home" moan on 12:48 - Jun 18 with 1919 viewsLibero

Cheers everyone who's shared their current situation.

I was just having a self indulgent moan this morning really, as others have stated there are so many positives such as spending more time with my son in the first year of his life, really the issue is my own in that I've got a bit of impostors syndrome going on.

I spent 3/4 years doing thankless long shifts and unsociable hours for sh1tty companies working with kids in care and disabled children, then just before lockdown I managed to get myself back into a role at a very good company that offers superb work/life balance and is a few rigs up the ladder from being on the shop floor so to speak.

I spent a month in the role then got the virus and spent a month off, I've only actually been there around 4 months in total.
I think that's why despite my boss telling me she's happy with my work I feel like I need to do more, just want to show my worth, etc.

I just need to chill out a bit I think, tell my brain to give it a rest and enjoy it while it lasts.
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"Working from home" moan on 13:17 - Jun 18 with 1848 viewsDecageBruce

"Working from home" moan on 12:48 - Jun 18 by Libero

Cheers everyone who's shared their current situation.

I was just having a self indulgent moan this morning really, as others have stated there are so many positives such as spending more time with my son in the first year of his life, really the issue is my own in that I've got a bit of impostors syndrome going on.

I spent 3/4 years doing thankless long shifts and unsociable hours for sh1tty companies working with kids in care and disabled children, then just before lockdown I managed to get myself back into a role at a very good company that offers superb work/life balance and is a few rigs up the ladder from being on the shop floor so to speak.

I spent a month in the role then got the virus and spent a month off, I've only actually been there around 4 months in total.
I think that's why despite my boss telling me she's happy with my work I feel like I need to do more, just want to show my worth, etc.

I just need to chill out a bit I think, tell my brain to give it a rest and enjoy it while it lasts.


You're well within your rights.

What I am really struggling with are the 'can you just....' requests from my wife every half an hour.
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